On my 35th birthday, my daughters gave me a little book called “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)” by Evelyn McFarlane & James Saywell. The book is filled with interesting and provocative questions that begin with the word “If.” The book became a popular meal time conversation starter for family and friends, and to this day it gets pulled out at the lake when we have a table full of interesting individuals and an evening to sit, eat, drink, and talk for hours.

So, for my own 30 day blogging challenge I have pulled 30 of my favorite questions from McFarlane & Saywell’s book. By the way, this book spawned several others with different categories and themes. I highly recommend them for your own meal time or family time conversational adventures.

Starting tomorrow I’ll be blogging through the questions. If you have a blog, I invite you to take up the challenge in your own posts. If you don’t have a blog, I invite you to post your own answers in a comment on my blogpost and further the on-line conversation. Props to the authors and thanks to Taylor & Madison for one of the most enjoyable gifts I’ve ever received.

If you could physically transport yourself to any place in the world at this moment, where would you go?

If you could have an elegant dinner along with anyone presently alive, whether you know them or not, who would you want it to be?

If you could inherit a comfortable home in any city in the world that you could use but not sell, where would you want it to be?

If you could own one painting from any collection in the world but were not allowed to sell it, which work of art would you select?

If you had to choose the color that describes you most accurately, what would it be?

If you could possess one supernatural ability, what would it be?

If you could have any single writer either current, or from history, write your biography, who would it be?

If you were on trial and someone you know (who is not an attorney) had to act as your legal representative, who would you want to defend you?

If you could have a dinner party in any room in the world (without having to clean up), where would you want to have it?

If you could host a dinner party inviting four people from history, who would you invite and where would the party take place?

If you were to receive a letter today from anyone you have known during your lifetime, who would it be from and what would it say?

If you could steal one thing in the world, other than money, without getting caught, what would you take?

If you had one piece of music softly playing in your mind for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be?

If you could run any single company, institution, or organization in the world, which would you choose?

If you could choose any historic figure to read your eulogy, who would you want to do it?

If you could dance any one dance perfectly, which dance would you choose?

If you could be a guest on any television talk show, which would it be?

If you could teach your children only one lesson in life, what would it be?

If you were to choose a musical instrument that best describes your character, what would it be?

If you had to pick the worst movie in history, which one would get the dubious honor?

If you had to choose the worst work experience you’ve ever had, what would you pick?

If you learned that you were to die in exactly one hour, what would you do?

If your own ashes were to be kept in an urn, after you die, where would you want the urn kept?

If you could have any view from your home, what would it be of?

If you could have the world’s largest collection of one thing, what would it be?

If you were to be given an acting role in a current TV show, who would you want to play?

If you could have a servant come to your house every day for one hour, what would you have them do?

If you could choose the very last thing you would see before you die, what would it be?

If you could make a film from any book never produced as a film, what book would you pick?

If you could visit only one more place in the world that you have never been, where would you go for this final voyage?